Upside down cake is one of those oft not made cakes, and when it is there is usually pineapple involved. There’s a secret ingredient in this cake…passionfruit. The gloriously underrated passionfruit comes to play with plums in something I’ve not seen often in recipes.

Whilst it is the middle of summer and currently where I am, New York has a heat advisory, but having a slice of this cake with a dollop of yogurt or cream is kinda the perfect way to start the day. The flavors burst and mellow with each bite of this and it could become a cake that gets made and remade with each new season of seasonal fruit onhand – somehow the plums are perfect for right now though.

Growing up with a German mother meant that yeasted (I don’t think that’s a word, but I’m rolling with it) plum cake was made every summer and we didn’t often eat it any other way in baking. It felt a little weird, in fact, to make this cake which feels so different from how I know this fruit.

I’m not sure how she gathered the energy to bake in the middle of summer, but fruit doesn’t wait around, in fact, the surplus that always comes from food in the summer is basically asking to be turned into anything and everything and so here we are with an upside down cake. What is your go to use for summer produce?

Upside Down Plum Passionfruit Cake
Recipe by Roamingtaste
Serves 10

Ingredients:
Syrup
1/3 cup water
4 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 passionfruit pulp
Cake
60 grams butter, room temperature
2/3 cup superfine/caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup almond flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup polenta
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 plums, sliced into 1/8 slices and pit removed

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and greaseproof your cake tin.

Place the water, sugar and clove into a saucepan on medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved, allowing to simmer for approximately 3 minutes. Remove the clove and add the passionfruit pulp and allow to simmer for a further 3 minutes.

Pour into your cake tin and smooth out evenly and lay the sliced plums down into the syrup around the baking tin. Set aside.

Meanwhile, place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whip until well combined and fluffy.

Add the salt and Greek yogurt and fold until well combined and smooth.

Add the almond flour, polenta, plain flour, baking soda and baking powder and fold through until the batter is smooth.

Pour on top of the plums and spread out evenly.

Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean in the center.

Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before flipping over onto a plate.

Allow to cool.

Serve with a little whipped cream or Greek yogurt if you wish.

Note: If baking in a springform cake tin, lay aluminum foil underneath as the syrup and plum create quite a sauce which will drip.